63 



come so very near to us that it is well to be on our guard against it, and to know how to 

 repel its attacks in case of necessity. Dr. Lintner, in his Report for last year, gives an 

 account of its appearance in large numbers, and of the damage it inflicted on several 

 farms in St. Lawrence county, New York, at Morristown, opposite Brockville, and other 

 places near the river further west. During the seasons of 1882 and 1883 it was abundant 

 and destructive, but was afterwards apparently killed out, partly by the measures taken 

 to exterminate it, and partly by the unfavourable weather. 



The chinch bug (Blissus leucoplerus, 

 Say) is a very tiny creature, and not likely to 

 be recognized by any one unfamiliar with 

 insects. The annexed wood cut (Fig. 44) 

 represents the creature highly magnified on 

 the left, the hair line beneath shewing the 

 actual size ; the figure to the right represents 

 an ordinary bug, shewing the difference in 

 shape from the chinch bug. Should any 

 farmer observe in the autumn patches of dead 

 Jt \Mffif ft / ^&^ f | grass in his meadows, looking as if winter- 



^> -jT* ^as^ \ r billed, and on inspection find minute insects 

 I at the roots smelling like ordinary bed bugs, 



Fig 44 he will do well to send some specimens at 



once to a competent entomologist for identifi- 

 cation (Mr. James Fletcher, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, is the proper person to 

 apply to). If it should prove to be the chinch bug, the following remedies may be 

 employed : — 



1. Burn the dead grass on the infested spot and fifteen or twenty feet around it. 

 This may be done by spreading over it a covering of straw and setting fire to it when the 

 wind is favourable. 2. Plough the burned area, or, better still, the whole field, in broad 

 and deep furrows, turning the sod completely and flatly over, not permitting it to be in 

 ridges. 3. To insure the more effective burying of the insects that may be feeding upon, 

 or preparing to pass the winter among the roots of the grasses, harrow the ploughed 

 surface slightly and follow with a heavy rolling. 4. If it can be obtained, spread gas-lime 

 over the infested parts at the rate of 200 bushels to the acre. It should only be applied 

 to the parts of the meadow actually attacked, as when fresh it will kill the grass. 



Clover Insects. 



Between twenty and thirty insects are known to entomologists as more or less 

 injurious to clover in Canada, while many more are found in the United States. The 

 most important of these — seven in number — have been so fully and satisfactorily 

 described and illustrated by Mr. Saunders, in a late issue of these reports (12th Annual 

 Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 1881, pages 37 to 48), that I need only 

 refer the reader to his paper, and not attempt to repeat the matter here. The Clover Seed 

 Midge is also referred to by Mr. James Fletcher, in his report for 1885, to the Minister of 

 Agriculture at Ottawa (pages 12 and 13); the remedy that he has found most effective in 

 Ontario, where this tiny insect has proved very injurious where clover is grown for seed, 

 he gives as follows : — 



" The only instances where any seed has been reaped are where, instead of allowing 

 the clover to stand in the field till the end of June, it has been fed off by cattle and sheep 

 till the beginning or middle of June, and then left to go to seed for the autumn 

 crop. . . . The verdict of all the growers who have tried the experiment now seems 

 to be that two crops cannot be secured, and to get any seed at all the first crop must be 

 pastured until the beginning, and not later than the middle, of June. In this way the 

 minute larvse of the flies, which are to lay the eggs for the second brood, are eaten by the 

 cattle at the same time as the clover and destroyed. It is quite apparent that, if all 

 persons will adopt this plan, much good will be done, and if some fall dressing for the 

 land can be devised to destroy the hibernating brood, we may hope before long to get rid 

 of this injurious insect." 



